NBA denies Mavericks' protest of loss to Warriors

The NBA on Thursday rejected the protest filed by the Dallas Mavericks surrounding their loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 22, the league announced.

Dallas argued that referees erred during an out-of-bounds call late in the third quarter that resulted in an open basket for Golden State. However, the league ruled that Dallas was not "deprived of a fair opportunity to win the game" as nearly 14 minutes remained in the contest, during which the Mavericks took the lead twice before falling 127-125.

During the incident in question, Dallas thought it'd be inbounding the ball following a timeout and had lined up all of its players on the opposite end of the court. However, referees actually awarded Golden State possession, resulting in a quick inbound under the Mavericks' basket and an uncontested dunk by Kevon Looney.

The confusion supposedly stemmed from the signals made by the referee immediately following the out-of-bounds call made prior. The official first gestures for possession to the Warriors but then quickly points to the Mavericks' bench for a timeout.

Mavs owner Mark Cuban publicly alleged after the game that referees had initially called Mavs ball but that they changed it to the Warriors during the timeout. However, the NBA dismissed that notion as "inaccurate" on Thursday, revealing that the Mavericks acknowledged in their protest "that the referee signaled possession to Golden State."

The league did state that it believed "the game officials could have taken steps to better manage this particular situation," but that it didn't warrant approving the protest. Had Dallas' appeal been accepted, the two sides likely would've had to restart the game from the time of the play - 1:59 to go in the third quarter - beginning with a Mavericks inbound.

The now-certified loss is a big blow to the Mavericks' postseason hopes. Undoing the result would've provided Jason Kidd's squad a chance to supplant the Oklahoma City Thunder for the final play-in berth in the Western Conference.

Despite owning an identical 38-42 record to Oklahoma City, the Mavericks are on course to miss the postseason entirely after losing their season series with the Thunder 2-1. Dallas, which went all-in with a February trade for Kyrie Irving to provide Luka Doncic with a co-star, will face the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs to end the regular season, while Oklahoma City will round out the year against the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies.

Failing to make the postseason could set the franchise back to square one, too, as Irving is on pace to become a free agent this summer.